Men Shoeing a Horse
late 19th century
Medium
graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 31.59 × 24.61 cm (12 7/16 × 9 11/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection
Accession Number
2015.19.3563
Art Historical Context
Walter Shirlaw’sMen Shoeing a Horse captures a quiet moment skilled labor in the late century. Rendered graphite on wove paper the drawing measures just over twelve by nine inches, close inspection of its delicate lines and subtle gradations. Shirl uses the medium’s to record the physical effort farriers at work emphasizing the weight of the’s hoof and the postures of the men. ite drawings like this one served as studies or observations, allowing artists to texture, light, movement with precision. The sheet’s modest scale and the visible paper surface to an intimate, immediate, as though the ...
About the Artist
Walter Shirlaw · 1838–1909
Walter Shirlaw (1838–1909) was a Scottish-born American painter and illustrator whose career bridged the genteel tradition of academic figure painting and the emerging ambitions of American art in the Gilded Age. Born in Paisley, Scotland, Shirlaw emigrated to the United States as a child and received his early artistic training in America before traveling to Munich to study at the Royal Academy —...